Recaps

Xiang Qian confronted Jiaying over Gordon and Jansen, then learned that Gordon belonged to a hidden community distinct from mutants. Jiaying's Terrigen Crystal failed to harm Xiang Qian, and as she tried to drain his life force, he calmly studied her ability.

• Xiang Qian challenged Jiaying's explanation for Gordon's attack and revealed that he was holding Gordon and Jansen for research.
• Jiaying demanded their release and grew alarmed when Xiang Qian questioned Gordon's unusual genes and the existence of others like him.
• Jiaying broke a Terrigen Crystal on Xiang Qian's desk and threatened him, but the mist had no effect on him.
• Xiang Qian collected the mist and identified it as Terrigen, prompting Jiaying to grab his hand and drain his life force.
• Xiang Qian realized Jiaying's touch was draining his energy and watched as she increased contact, though her efforts barely affected him.

Xiang Qian tested Jiaying’s life-draining ability and discovered that his own life force could heal her scars, then pursued an intimate encounter despite her resistance. Jiaying revealed she was Daisy’s mother, but Xiang Qian resumed after warning her not to wait until the last moment to tell him to stop.

• Xiang Qian held Jiaying and confirmed she could voluntarily control her life-draining ability, though it activated automatically when she lost consciousness.
• Xiang Qian examined Jiaying’s scars and transferred his life force to her through a kiss, causing the scars to begin healing.
• Jiaying stopped Xiang Qian and showed him the autopsy incision across her body, but he responded with pity and continued pursuing her.
• Jiaying told Xiang Qian that she was Daisy’s mother and that Daisy was Skye’s original name.
• Xiang Qian pressed Jiaying against the window and told her not to wait until he had gone all the way before telling him to stop.

After Xiang Qian healed Jiaying, her scars vanished and her body became youthful again. He brought her to meet Skye, where Jiaying revealed she was Skye’s mother, while wondering why Skye trusted Xiang Qian so much.

• Jiaying woke to find her scars had disappeared, and Xiang Qian confirmed that he had healed her and made her younger.
• Jiaying told Xiang Qian she did not want to discuss her past suffering, then asked to see Daisy, whom Xiang Qian said was living at Wude Group’s Hong Kong branch.
• Xiang Qian brought Jiaying to Skye’s residence late at night and introduced her as someone Skye could trust.
• Jiaying told Skye that she was her mother and had been searching for her for twenty years.
• Skye struggled to believe that the youthful-looking woman was her mother, while Jiaying wondered why Skye trusted Xiang Qian so readily.

Xiang Qian reflected on his ongoing bodily evolution and nearly tested whether he could bring matter from the Soul Universe into reality before Ancient One stopped him. Jiaying then negotiated over Gordon and confronted Xiang Qian about his relationship with Skye, leaving him arguing that ordinary moral standards might not suit people with unusually long lives.

• Xiang Qian realized that absorbing The Beast had caused his body to keep evolving and debated whether he remained human with a voice in the Soul Universe.
• Xiang Qian tried to seize an asteroid in the Soul Universe, but Ancient One stopped him and said he would need the power of Eternity or Infinity to manifest its matter in reality.
• Ancient One mentioned the Reality Stone as a possible external aid, then warned Xiang Qian not to judge things by their surface.
• Jiaying asked to take Gordon back, but Xiang Qian refused until she could assess Gordon and agree to mutual safeguards for their secrets.
• Jiaying confronted Xiang Qian about his relationship with Skye, slapped him, and was restrained when she tried to strike him again.
• Xiang Qian questioned whether ordinary moral standards suited people like them, whose lives could outlast those of most people.

Xiang Qian reflected on how power and immortality weakened ordinary moral restraints while navigating his relationships with Jiaying and Skye. After Jiaying took Skye away and a quiet stretch followed, Xiang Qian learned that Victor von Doom had secured support for a major space project despite Doom Group nearing bankruptcy.

• Xiang Qian considered how extraordinary power and longevity could erode social and moral restraints, and Jiaying slapped him before leaving in anger.
• Xiang Qian found Skye overwhelmed with emotion, stayed with her through the night, and kept her unaware of what had happened between him and Jiaying.
• Jiaying returned, met Gordon without incident, then took Skye away without discussing Gordon's release.
• Kaecilius's group was defeated by Thor's forces, and Kaecilius escaped to Earth badly wounded.
• Xiang Qian and Tony Stark discussed Reed Richards's cosmic-ray research and Victor von Doom's funding, while Xiang Qian wondered how Doom had secured billions and NASA's help.

Xiang Qian investigated the mysterious funding behind Doom Group’s space program and suspected that Nick Fury was secretly manipulating events. After Victor von Doom announced that Doom Group’s one-of-a-kind space station could study cosmic rays, Xiang Qian connected the project to a hidden plan involving gamma-ray bursts.

• Xiang Qian avoided approaching Reed Richards because Sue Storm was on Reed’s research team, and he joked with Tony about their past romantic exploits.
• Xiang Qian obtained the minutes of a Doom Group board meeting and found dozens of private associations and foundations had invested in its space research program.
• Jim Rogers told Xiang Qian that the investigation had found no leads, but Xiang Qian detected signs that Jim was lying and wondered whether their partners were plotting against Wude Group.
• Victor von Doom announced that he would join Reed Richards’s space research mission, prompting Xiang Qian to scrutinize Doom Group’s project and Doom’s confidence in his absence.
• After Doom described the space station’s unique cosmic-ray research technology, Xiang Qian linked the station’s capabilities and the secretive investments to Nick Fury and possible gamma-ray bursts.

Xiang Qian arranged to monitor Doom Group’s space research so he could track S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Tesseract experiments and eventually obtain the cube. When a radiation storm struck Doom’s space station ahead of schedule, Xiang Qian realized the disaster might help him drive Doom out of Doom Group.

• Xiang Qian told Shen Ran to keep monitoring the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents involved in Howard Stark’s case, while explaining that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s funding of Doom’s space program was likely connected to Tesseract research.
• Xiang Qian concluded that Nick Fury had taken the Tesseract out for research after Xiang Qian had encouraged him to fear its power, and he prepared to monitor Doom’s space program with a satellite and a ground-based radio telescope.
• Doom’s space shuttle reached orbit, and Xiang Qian opened a portal beneath the station to collect the radiation data being gathered there.
• A radiation storm reached the space station sooner and with greater intensity than expected, and Victor returned to the isolation chamber while Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben were unable to reach it in time.
• The storm engulfed the station and exposed Reed and the others to intense radiation, while Xiang Qian’s equipment captured the surge and he saw an opportunity to drive Doom out of Doom Group.

After the Wude Group and Stark Industries announced a space-development partnership, Xiang Qian and Tony discussed radiation research, Abomination, and a new potential threat: a man surrounded by flames reaching 5,000 degrees Celsius. The footage traced the fiery figure to the Baxter Building, where Susan Storm had appeared naked before vanishing, leaving Xiang Qian and Tony stunned.

• Two days after Doom Group's space experiment failed, Wude Group and Stark Industries announced a space-development plan built around Xiang Qian's rocket technology and Tony's compact reactors.
• Two months later, Xiang Qian reunited with Tony and Pepper, declined NASA's proposed involvement, and discussed creating a collaborative cosmic-ray research program.
• Xiang Qian told Tony that Abomination was alive and being helped, while explaining that his loss of reason might require treatment from Kamar-Taj's mages.
• Jarvis alerted Tony and Xiang Qian to a flying man whose flames reached 5,000 degrees Celsius and identified the Baxter Building as the earliest known location of his appearance.
• Jarvis showed footage of Susan Storm running naked through the streets and then vanishing near the Baxter Building, prompting Tony and Xiang Qian to stare at the images.

Tony flew after a fire-wielding Johnny Storm and learned that Johnny and the Richards research team had developed extraordinary abilities. The chapter ended with Reed Richards demonstrating his stretchy body to Tony at the Baxter Building.

• Tony flew out in his Mark V armor to approach the 5,000-degree flame-wielding flyer, who turned out to be Johnny Storm.
• Johnny and Xiang Qian traded jokes about an old incident in which Sue fired a revolver after Xiang Qian fled her dorm.
• Xiang Qian told Johnny that Sue had been filmed streaking through New York, prompting Johnny to rush back to the Baxter Building.
• Tony followed Johnny to the Baxter Building, where he met Reed Richards, Sue, and the transformed Ben Grimm.
• Reed explained the team's new abilities, then stretched his arm around the building and back to Tony.

Xiang Qian and Tony discussed the unusual acceleration of the radiation storm and concluded that something was pushing it toward Earth. As they prepared to investigate, a silver streak followed the storm’s path toward Earth, while a colossal warship drifted through deep space.

• Sue Storm angrily blasted Tony’s armor out through the Baxter Building window after Xiang Qian criticized her force-field control and suggested better clothing for Reed Richards.
• Tony flew away while Xiang Qian continued speaking over the comm line, then warned him to stay away from Sue because her force field could be deadly.
• Xiang Qian told Tony he had traded Victor von Doom proxy rights to his Doom Group shares for the space station’s radiation-storm data.
• Xiang Qian and Tony determined that the radiation had accelerated because an unknown force was pushing it, and Xiang Qian suspected something was following the storm.
• A silver streak crossed the asteroid belt toward Earth along the storm’s route as a colossal warship drifted through deep space.

Xiang Qian and Tony uncovered a precisely aimed, periodically pulsing force accelerating radiation toward Earth, then learned that a mysterious silver figure on a surfboard had fallen into the Thames in London. They were left trying to identify the apparent alien and understand why it had arrived.

• Xiang Qian and Tony analyzed global astronomical data and found an unknown force aimed at Earth's Northern Hemisphere at exact seventeen-minute-and-twenty-six-second intervals.
• Xiang Qian decided to report the findings and data model to the Spear Bureau, while Tony planned to contact Nick Fury.
• Jarvis alerted Tony and Xiang Qian that an unidentified object had entered Earth's orbit and was rapidly descending toward London.
• The silver object plunged into the Thames, and surveillance footage revealed a gleaming figure standing on what looked like a surfboard.
• Tony and Xiang Qian wondered why an alien surfer had chosen the Thames River.

Tony and Xiang Qian tracked the alien called “Surfer Boy” as he descended beneath the Thames, while Master Wong arrived with an urgent summons from the Master. With no way to reach the alien deep underground, Tony proposed sending a simulated signal into the sinkhole, leaving Nick Fury to decide whether to try it.

• Tony and Xiang Qian used Stark Industries and Wude Group satellites to track Surfer Boy, whose arrival caused a magnitude-seven earthquake and a sinkhole beneath the Thames.
• Xiang Qian estimated that Surfer Boy had descended into the lower mantle, while Tony detected fixed electromagnetic frequencies coming from him.
• Tony asked to use Wude Group’s communications satellites to broadcast an invitation, but Jarvis reported an incoming call from Nick Fury.
• Master Wong opened a portal into Tony’s lab and told Xiang Qian that the Master urgently wanted to see him because of Surfer Boy.
• Xiang Qian warned Tony that the Master’s urgency meant the situation might be more serious than they had imagined.
• Nick Fury consulted Tony, who proposed using ultrasonic waves to simulate one of Surfer Boy’s electromagnetic frequencies and send a signal into the sinkhole, though he could not guarantee it would work.

Nick Fury and Tony Stark tracked the Silver Surfer as it emerged near New Zealand and raced across Australia, causing blackouts and severe cold while evading communication attempts and military interception. As S.H.I.E.L.D. lost access to satellite data on energy buildups in China, Fury learned that Deputy Director Hill had blocked them under World Security Council authority.

• Divers found the sinkhole plugged with ice and debris, and Tony concluded that the mysterious object absorbed heat and might interfere with energy-based signals.
• Satellites spotted the Silver Surfer near New Zealand, and Tony sent electromagnetic signals from Stark Tower, but the Surfer ignored them and continued toward Australia.
• The Silver Surfer crossed Australia, causing widespread power failures, falling temperatures, and heavy snowfall, while Nick Fury ordered fighter jets to intercept it.
• The Surfer outran the F-22s and their missiles, then disabled both fighters' flight controls before speeding away as the pilots ejected.
• Nick Fury ordered an investigation into detected energy buildups in China, but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems were blocked under World Security Council authority issued by Deputy Director Hill.

Nick Fury investigated Silver Surfer’s disappearance after the World Security Council blocked his surveillance operation, while Tony pointed him toward Reed Richards. Xiang Qian confronted Silver Surfer in the Mirror Dimension, but his opening attack failed and Silver Surfer seized his arm for a counterpunch.

• Nick Fury learned that Agent Hill had restricted his surveillance operation on orders from the World Security Council, then watched Silver Surfer vanish into a moving portal.
• Tony Stark suggested that Nick Fury investigate Dr. Reed Richards and suspected Silver Surfer’s radiation had caused the Fantastic Four’s abnormalities.
• Xiang Qian trapped Silver Surfer in the Mirror Dimension, where Silver Surfer unleashed energy that began cracking the realm.
• Wong estimated that he could hold the Mirror Dimension for about a minute, and Xiang Qian charged Silver Surfer despite Wong’s warning.
• Xiang Qian’s punch passed through Silver Surfer as he turned into energy, but Silver Surfer became solid again, grabbed Xiang Qian’s arm, and swung at his forehead.

Xiang Qian and Wong struggled to hold the Mirror Dimension against Silver Surfer, whose overwhelming energy attacks steadily wore them down. Xiang Qian stabilized the dimension and sent Wong through a portal, preparing to face what came next alone.

• Xiang Qian broke free from Silver Surfer's grip, but a powerful energy blast drove him into the ground beside Wong.
• Silver Surfer attacked the Mirror Dimension and selectively rained down energies that weakened Xiang Qian's shields and magic.
• Xiang Qian's shields shattered under the barrage, and he returned to Wong as the Mirror Dimension neared collapse.
• Xiang Qian released countless magical runes and restored the Mirror Dimension's stability.
• Xiang Qian opened a portal and ordered Wong to leave, and Wong decisively went through it.

Xiang Qian transformed his body into magic and gained the upper hand against Silver Surfer inside the Mirror Dimension. As Silver Surfer fought to escape Xiang Qian’s spatial chains, Xiang Qian realized his opponent’s energy was not limitless.

• Xiang Qian’s body became magical power, and he resumed fighting Silver Surfer in the stabilized Mirror Dimension.
• Silver Surfer charged through Xiang Qian’s spatial barrier but was returned to his starting point.
• Ancient One explained to Wong that Xiang Qian had transformed his body into magic, while warning that the method endangered his soul and could not last long.
• Xiang Qian bound Silver Surfer and his surfboard with seven chains that divided them across overlapping subspaces.
• Silver Surfer unleashed a burst of energy that cracked the chains, and Xiang Qian recognized that his energy was finite.

Xiang Qian discovered Silver Surfer drew his power from his board, then bound both of them and defeated him. Ancient One revealed Silver Surfer’s master was Galan, also known as Galactus, the figure Xiang Qian had been searching for.

• Xiang Qian used seven overlapping subspaces to determine that Silver Surfer’s energy came from his board.
• Xiang Qian bound the board and tried to separate Silver Surfer from it as the board and his body struggled to merge.
• Wong asked to help, but Ancient One refused because the cosmic radiation inside the Mirror Dimension could kill him.
• Xiang Qian transformed the scattered energy in the Mirror Dimension into magic and struck Silver Surfer with a condensed magical storm.
• Xiang Qian bound Silver Surfer and sealed his board in another space.
• Ancient One told Xiang Qian that Silver Surfer’s master was Galan, also known as Galactus.

Xiang Qian learned that Galan, the Planet Devourer, was heading for Earth and that the Silver Surfer had prepared channels for him to drain the planet. After Ancient One revealed that she and Odin would defend Earth, Xiang Qian interrogated the captive Surfer, who said Galan would arrive soon.

• Ancient One explained that the Silver Surfer served Galan by finding planets and opening channels to their cores, making Earth Galan's likely next target.
• Ancient One said a complete Phoenix could defeat Galan, but Jean's incomplete Phoenix Force was too dangerous to restore, so she and Odin would establish a defensive line.
• Xiang Qian and Wong joked to ease the tension as they dragged the captive Silver Surfer away.
• When the Surfer's board was isolated from him, Galan awoke aboard his spacecraft and demanded to know who had harmed his herald.
• Xiang Qian examined the board in a pocket dimension and asked the captive where to find his master.
• The Silver Surfer refused to help and warned Xiang Qian that Galan would arrive soon to destroy Earth.

After learning that Galactus would reach Earth within roughly a week to ten days, Xiang Qian arranged plans to seek Asgard’s help and warned S.H.I.E.L.D. about the threat. He refused to hand over Silver Surfer for verification and left Nick Fury to face the possibility of Earth’s destruction.

• Professor Xavier read Silver Surfer’s memories and revealed that Norrin Radd had sacrificed himself to save Zenn-La, then served Galactus as his herald.
• Professor Xavier explained that Galactus usually arrived within a week to ten days after Silver Surfer sent him a message.
• Xiang Qian proposed adapting the Fire Seed Plan to seek asylum and aid from Asgard, and Zheng Xian activated the plan.
• Xiang Qian sent Nick Fury Silver Surfer’s statement about Galactus, who devoured planets.
• Nick Fury demanded Silver Surfer so S.H.I.E.L.D. could verify the warning, but Xiang Qian refused and said no one had intended to cooperate with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Xiang Qian recruited Reed Richards to help prepare for Galactus’s threat by designing a weapon capable of destroying him. After arriving at the Baxter Building through a portal and clashing with Johnny Storm, Xiang Qian asked Richards to create the most powerful bomb in history.

• Xiang Qian told Nick Fury he planned to take Tony Stark and Reed Richards to Kamar-Taj to help design a weapon to kill Galactus.
• Xiang Qian opened a portal into the Baxter Building, where Johnny Storm attacked him with flames.
• Sue Storm trapped Xiang Qian and Johnny in force fields, but Xiang Qian escaped while Johnny remained enclosed and lost consciousness from lack of oxygen.
• Sue released Johnny, and Reed Richards questioned Xiang Qian about his portal magic and the alien threat to Earth.
• Xiang Qian asked Reed Richards to help create the most powerful bomb in history.

Xiang Qian brought Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and the others to an interdimensional laboratory to develop a weapon against Galactus using Silver Surfer’s energy-rich board. With only one week left, they agreed to focus on taking control of the board and detonating its energy.

• Tony Stark explained that weapon design depended first on having enough power, and questioned whether Xiang Qian had an energy source capable of threatening Galactus.
• Xiang Qian transported the group from Stark Tower to a hidden interdimensional laboratory and revealed a ship-like machine containing the captured surfboard.
• Tony Stark examined the surfboard and concluded it could convert its vast stored energy into different forms, while Reed Richards called its technology a breakthrough for future energy research.
• Xiang Qian rejected Reed Richards’s hopes of studying the surfboard, insisting it had to become a bomb because humanity had only one week before Galactus arrived.
• Xiang Qian said their plan was to seize control of the surfboard and find a way to detonate its energy.

Xiang Qian explained how to build a bomb detonator using the alien surfboard’s brainwave connection and a magical signal, while Reed Richards calculated where it could be safely detonated. As Xiang Qian revealed the plan to intercept Galactus near Neptune, Richards imagined magic-driven space exploration, but Xiang Qian insisted that magic must never lead the world.

• Xiang Qian told Tony Stark and Reed Richards that James Zion had discovered the surfboard was made of the same substance as the alien’s body and could be controlled through brainwaves.
• Tony proposed using an imitation brainwave signal to trigger the bomb, and Xiang Qian suggested using a magical fluctuation as the activation key.
• Xiang Qian reassured Tony that he would detonate the bomb from a safe distance, while Reed calculated that the blast should occur beyond Jupiter’s orbit with Jupiter on the far side of the Sun.
• Xiang Qian revealed that the battle plan was to intercept Galactus between Neptune’s and Uranus’s orbits, with Saturn’s orbit as the final line, and showed that magic could transport a bomb across space.
• Reed Richards proposed combining magic and technology to usher humanity into a new era, but Xiang Qian warned that magic must not lead the world because mages could become an eternal aristocracy.

Xiang Qian warned Reed Richards and the others that immortal sorcerers could provoke a revolution by creating an eternal ruling class, then helped them develop a weapon against Galactus. The team produced a working surfboard-signal simulator and an antimatter bomb, while Reed revealed he had considered creating a black hole before abandoning the idea.

• Xiang Qian explained to Reed Richards, Tony, and the others that long-lived sorcerers could create an enduring elite unlike ordinary inventors, who eventually died.
• Xiang Qian revealed that his teacher had been a sorcerer since the beginning of the eleventh century, surprising Johnny Storm and intriguing Sue Storm with magic's effect on beauty.
• Xiang Qian traveled between the dimensional laboratory and the real world as James Zion while Tony Stark and Reed Richards developed a way to use the surfboard against Galactus.
• Tony, Reed, and Xiang Qian failed to rewrite the surfboard's control commands but successfully tested a simulator that replicated its signals.
• Reed Richards described the team's antimatter bomb, then explained that he had considered creating a black hole beside Galactus before rejecting the idea because it could catastrophically disrupt the Solar System.

Tony Stark visited Xiang Qian before the battle against Galactus and discovered that Xiang Qian had created the Fire Seed Plan decades earlier for another crisis. Tony had rejected a place in the plan because Pepper was not included, and the chapter ended as a radiant woman appeared before Xiang Qian.

• Tony Stark arrived in Hong Kong to see Xiang Qian and ask about the Fire Seed Plan.
• Xiang Qian revealed that he had drafted and perfected the plan, which had been prepared for about twenty years.
• Tony explained that he had questioned the relief agency about preserving civilization’s knowledge and suspected the plan was meant for a crisis other than Galactus.
• Xiang Qian refused to tell Tony what the original crisis was, but offered to bring him into the plan if they survived Galactus.
• Tony said he had refused the agency’s offer because Pepper was not on the Fire Seed list.
• A dazzling light appeared beside the window, and Xiang Qian identified the approaching woman as a girl worth doing anything for.

Xiang Qian reconciled with Jean Grey, arranged for Magik to shelter Earth’s refugees in Limbo, and joined the leaders at Kamar-Taj as Galactus approached. Jean demonstrated the Phoenix Force’s power by catching and wielding Mjolnir, while Xiang Qian insisted that she was willing to risk herself for him.

• Jean confronted Xiang Qian for leaving without saying goodbye, and he apologized before they reconciled.
• Jean told Xiang Qian that Magik had agreed to open Limbo to Earth’s refugees if the situation became critical.
• Xiang Qian and Jean informed Zheng Xian about Limbo’s refuge plan, and Xiang Qian sent Tony Stark back to the United States to prepare for evacuation.
• On the ninth day after the Silver Surfer arrived, Xiang Qian and Jean met Ancient One, Odin, Frigga, and Thor at Kamar-Taj as news of Galactus arrived.
• Thor challenged Xiang Qian and threw Mjolnir toward him, but Jean caught the hammer and wielded it while Thor failed to summon it back.
• Odin warned Xiang Qian that the Phoenix Force was dangerous, but Xiang Qian said the risk was worth taking because Jean was willing to take it for him.